APNewsBreak: Son of slain Sikh to challenge Ryan

In this Thursday, Oct. 10, 2013 photo, film director and producer Amardeep Kaleka poses for a photo in Los Angeles. Kaleka, whose father Satwant Singh Kaleka, the president of the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, was slain at the Oak Creek temple shooting in Milwaukee suburb in 2012, plans to challenge Rep. Paul Ryan in next year's congressional election. Kaleka says he'll file paperwork Oct. 16 to form an exploratory congressional committee. The 35-year-old Democrat plans to announce his candidacy fo
— AP

In this Thursday, Oct. 10, 2013 photo, film director and producer Amardeep Kaleka poses for a photo in Los Angeles. Kaleka, whose father Satwant Singh Kaleka, the president of the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, was slain at the Oak Creek temple shooting in Milwaukee suburb in 2012, plans to challenge Rep. Paul Ryan in next year's congressional election. Kaleka says he'll file paperwork Oct. 16 to form an exploratory congressional committee. The 35-year-old Democrat plans to announce his candidacy fo
/ AP

In this Thursday, Oct. 10, 2013 photo, film director and producer Amardeep Kaleka wears a band reading " Relentless Optimism" next to one with the date " Aug. 5, 2012. " the day when Wade Michael Page fatally shot six people and wounded four others in a mass shooting at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. Kaleka, whose father Satwant Singh Kaleka, was slain at the Oak Creek temple shooting, plans to challenge Rep. Paul Ryan in next year's congressional election. Kaleka says he'll file paperwo— AP

In this Thursday, Oct. 10, 2013 photo, film director and producer Amardeep Kaleka wears a band reading " Relentless Optimism" next to one with the date " Aug. 5, 2012. " the day when Wade Michael Page fatally shot six people and wounded four others in a mass shooting at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. Kaleka, whose father Satwant Singh Kaleka, was slain at the Oak Creek temple shooting, plans to challenge Rep. Paul Ryan in next year's congressional election. Kaleka says he'll file paperwo
/ AP

In this Thursday, Oct. 10, 2013 photo, film director and producer Amardeep Kaleka poses for with a photo of his family in Los Angeles. Kaleka, whose father Satwant Singh Kaleka, the president of the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, was slain at the Oak Creek temple shooting in Milwaukee suburb in 2012, plans to challenge Rep. Paul Ryan in next year's congressional election. Kaleka says he'll file paperwork Oct. 16 to form an exploratory congressional committee. The 35-year-old Democrat plans to announ— AP

In this Thursday, Oct. 10, 2013 photo, film director and producer Amardeep Kaleka poses for with a photo of his family in Los Angeles. Kaleka, whose father Satwant Singh Kaleka, the president of the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, was slain at the Oak Creek temple shooting in Milwaukee suburb in 2012, plans to challenge Rep. Paul Ryan in next year's congressional election. Kaleka says he'll file paperwork Oct. 16 to form an exploratory congressional committee. The 35-year-old Democrat plans to announ
/ AP

In this Thursday, Oct. 10, 2013 photo, film director and producer Amardeep Kaleka poses for a photo at Neverending Light, his Emmy Award winning film and television production company in Los Angeles. Kaleka, whose father Satwant Singh Kaleka, the president of the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, was slain at the Oak Creek temple shooting in Milwaukee suburb in 2012, plans to challenge Rep. Paul Ryan in next year's congressional election. Kaleka says he'll file paperwork Wednesday to form an explorator— AP

In this Thursday, Oct. 10, 2013 photo, film director and producer Amardeep Kaleka poses for a photo at Neverending Light, his Emmy Award winning film and television production company in Los Angeles. Kaleka, whose father Satwant Singh Kaleka, the president of the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, was slain at the Oak Creek temple shooting in Milwaukee suburb in 2012, plans to challenge Rep. Paul Ryan in next year's congressional election. Kaleka says he'll file paperwork Wednesday to form an explorator
/ AP

In this Thursday, Oct. 10, 2013 photo, film director and producer Amardeep Kaleka speaks in Los Angeles. Kaleka, whose father Satwant Singh Kaleka, the president of the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, was slain at the Oak Creek temple shooting in Milwaukee suburb in 2012, plans to challenge Rep. Paul Ryan in next year's congressional election. Kaleka says he'll file paperwork Oct. 16 to form an exploratory congressional committee. The 35-year-old Democrat plans to announce his candidacy formally next— AP

In this Thursday, Oct. 10, 2013 photo, film director and producer Amardeep Kaleka speaks in Los Angeles. Kaleka, whose father Satwant Singh Kaleka, the president of the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, was slain at the Oak Creek temple shooting in Milwaukee suburb in 2012, plans to challenge Rep. Paul Ryan in next year's congressional election. Kaleka says he'll file paperwork Oct. 16 to form an exploratory congressional committee. The 35-year-old Democrat plans to announce his candidacy formally next
/ AP

In this Thursday, Oct. 10, 2013 photo, film director and producer Amardeep Kaleka poses for a photo in Los Angeles. Kaleka, whose father Satwant Singh Kaleka, the president of the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, was slain at the Oak Creek temple shooting in Milwaukee suburb in 2012, plans to challenge Rep. Paul Ryan in next year's congressional election. Kaleka says he'll file paperwork Oct. 16 to form an exploratory congressional committee. The 35-year-old Democrat plans to announce his candidacy fo— AP

In this Thursday, Oct. 10, 2013 photo, film director and producer Amardeep Kaleka poses for a photo in Los Angeles. Kaleka, whose father Satwant Singh Kaleka, the president of the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, was slain at the Oak Creek temple shooting in Milwaukee suburb in 2012, plans to challenge Rep. Paul Ryan in next year's congressional election. Kaleka says he'll file paperwork Oct. 16 to form an exploratory congressional committee. The 35-year-old Democrat plans to announce his candidacy fo
/ AP

MILWAUKEE 
The son of a slain Sikh temple president plans to challenge U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan in next year's congressional election, in a Wisconsin district where support for the 2012 Republican vice presidential nominee has been strong but slipping.

Amar Kaleka, 35, told The Associated Press he'll file paperwork Wednesday to form an exploratory congressional committee. He plans to formally announce his candidacy as a Democrat next month.

Kaleka said he wants to bring accountability and transparency back to Washington. He blamed the government shutdown on Ryan, who's the House Budget Committee chairman, and his GOP colleagues. He said citizens are tired of career politicians who care more about staying in power than serving the people.

"There's a fever in the nation, and specifically in this district, for our leaders to stop playing politics and do their jobs," Kaleka said. "All I want to do is bring democracy - a government of, for and by the people - back to America."

Kaleka's father, Satwant Singh Kaleka, was a small-business owner who founded the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in suburban Milwaukee. On Aug. 5, 2012, a white supremacist walked into the temple and opened fire, killing Kaleka and five others before taking his own life. The FBI was unable to determine a motive.

That was a turning point for Amar Kaleka, who grew up in Milwaukee and has been making documentaries in southern California for the past four years. He won an Emmy for his 2010 direction of Jacob's Turn, about a 4-year-old boy with Down syndrome who joins his first T-ball team.

He said he used to dream of running for public office when he was in his 50s or 60s but decided to seek office sooner following his father's homicide.

Sympathy and cash donations poured in from around the globe following the Sikh temple shootings, and several federal officials expressed their condolences. First lady Michelle Obama visited the temple to comfort the families and Attorney General Eric Holder spoke at the funeral.

But President Barack Obama, who has visited sites of other mass shootings, never came. His absence bothered Kaleka, an Obama supporter who hoped the president's presence would help advance the cause of stronger gun regulation.

Kaleka suspected that Obama stayed away to sidestep a controversial issue during an election year. To Kaleka, that meant the president was putting politics before people - a trend he saw repeated by other lawmakers every time he visited Washington, D.C.

He cites polls showing that 90 percent of Americans favored stronger background checks for gun buyers, yet even then Congress failed to act. That disgusted him.

"They're more concerned with the groups, the corporations that are giving them money than with what the people want," he said.

Kaleka knows he'd be taking on a formidable candidate. Ryan has so much political clout that he raised $1.7 million in the first six months of the year, nearly three times more than any other member of Wisconsin's congressional delegation.